Tonight's a big game for the Warriors, because with a win, Don Nelson will break the all-time record for most wins by a head coach. This is a big deal, until the next mediocre head coach that's good enough to play politics for decades to keep jobs comes along and steals it. To celebrate, he took his team to the White House instead of holding shootaround. In a related story, the Warriors' pre-game warmup crew was among the most disorganized I've seen all year.
Okay, so I'm being a wee bit harsh. You can't completely stink as a coach if you win as many games as Nelson. He's done a lot of great things for the game, many of which Flip Saunders went into in depth at tonight's pre-game media session. He's developed some really good players, plucking many from complete obscurity. So if he does get the record tonight, I'll be happy for him, even if I think he's a pretty overrated coach.
But you don't really care about Nelson, so real quick, some other tidbits.
- Remember last game, when Saunders singled out Shaun Livingston, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee as guys who have improved this year? One reason might be because they've been paired up with an assistant coach and are working hard before games. Livingston is always working with Sam Cassell, and today, Cassell was drilling him on some post moves. Blatche has been working with Gene Banks all season, while McGee has started to work closely with Assistant Coach/Advance Scout Mike Wells on post moves of his own.
- Speaking of Cassell - my god is he talkative. This should not surprise anyone.
- Quinton Ross was shooting around before the game and looked fully healthy. Saunders said he's "probable" for tonight. As for Al Thornton, Saunders simply said, "He's not probable." Thornton, who has a hip flexor, was walking around the locker room fine, but of course, that's the locker room. He said he's going to try to play tomorrow against the Magic.
- The first two Wizards on the floor for pre-game shooting were Cartier Martin and Cedric Jackson. It's kind of funny how you always see the two guys together in locker-room and on-court settings. I guess the D-League builds camaraderie.
- I took a ton of photos on my Iphone. A lot didn't come out. The ones that did will be posted on BF's Twitter account (which - shameless plug - you should be following).
GO WIZARDS!